Been there, done that: Tourism minister visits every town in N.L.
Chris Mitchelmore began checking communities off his list in 2016
The province's tourism minister has lived up to his title, having completed his mission to visit every community in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Chris Mitchelmore checked the very last town off his list this week — La Poile on the island's south coast — and by doing so, fulfilled a personal goal he set out more than three years ago.
"I realized I haven't seen a lot of Canada, and I hadn't seen enough of Newfoundland and Labrador," Mitchelmore told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show.
"Living on the Great Northern Peninsula, I do a lot of driving — 1,000 kilometres to get to St. John's — and recognizing that there's hundreds and hundreds of communities all throughout our province it's important to get out and explore, gain knowledge and understand as to what the potential is."
In 2016, Mitchelmore started sticking pins in a map of the province on the wall to chart his progress, a map now crowded with the communities he's seen, many of them well off the beaten track.
"I realized that I was going to a lot of the same places over and over. Usually larger centres, but not the communities around it. So on many occasions I said to MHAs and colleagues when I travelled to a community, 'show me somewhere else,'" he said.
"I've had some phenomenal experiences."
Home is where the heart is
One community stands out from the others: his hometown of Green Island Cove on the Great Northern Peninsula, which Mitchelmore said will always be one of his favourite places to visit.
But if he had to choose another contender, Mitchelmore picked Gaultois, an isolated spot in the Coast of Bays accessible only by ferry.
"I've been to Gaultois three times. I've gone on holiday and I just really love the sense of community that's there and that space," he said.
"It's just quintessentially outport, rural Newfoundland and Labrador and it's got a real little cultural hub that's there and a beautiful little inn, and it's a place I'll keep going back."
As far as travelling goes, Mitchelmore said his destinations were a mix of business as a provincial minister, and personal as a vacationer.
He said the travel bug comes from having visited more than 70 countries around the world so far.
But, travelling to literally every bay, tickle, town and village that N.L. has to offer, Mitchelmore acknowledged there is still work to be done to improve them.
In that regard, Keels, on the Bonavista Peninsula, stands out.
"I think there are a number of communities that are really going through a sense of renewal and seeing some new activity taking place," he said.
"In Newfoundland and Labrador we're punching above our weight, and it's because of the support of the people in the community, that they're helping each other and there's a real revival in rural Newfoundland and Labrador."
With files from the St. John's Morning Show